Greece's bailout bill submitted to parliament, vote expected within next 2 days

A restaurant employee writes on a paper at the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2015. Greece has agreed on the broad terms of a new three-year bailout package with international creditors, with only a few details left to iron out, the finance minister said Tuesday.(AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
(The Associated Press)

ATHENS, Greece – Greece's government has submitted the draft bill for its third bailout in five years to parliament, aiming for a vote before an expected eurozone finance ministers' meeting Friday.

The bill, which includes painful tax hikes and spending cuts, was submitted overnight Tuesday to Wednesday.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called an emergency session of parliament, asking the assembly's speaker for the bill to go through committee level Wednesday, ahead of a full debate and vote by the end of Thursday.

However, the exact timings remain unclear.

Parliament Speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou, a dissenter within Tsipras' left-wing Syriza party and vociferous bailout opponent, reportedly scheduled the parliamentary procedure to start only Wednesday night. That would delay the process and meaning a vote would likely be held in the pre-dawn hours of Friday.